


As Much Soul As You

by scoop-of-shirbert (Miss_Mortimer)



Series: Bartending!AU [1]
Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Season 1 Episode 3 “But What Is So Headstrong as Youth?”
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 03:43:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11455257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miss_Mortimer/pseuds/scoop-of-shirbert
Summary: Gilbert Blythe is an aspiring doctor, with an overeager fan club, making ends meet by working as a bartender just off campus. Anne Shirley is a second year entry student, who's covering the cost of tuition with shifts at the same bar. Also known as, "Gilbert Blythe tries (and fails) to get Anne Shirley to have dinner with him."





	As Much Soul As You

**Author's Note:**

> Drabbles from the Bartending!AU bebethsas and I had been working on, exploring several times Gilbert tries (and fails) to get Anne to go out with him. Eventually will be part of a larger series of pieces in that universe.
> 
> "Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you." 
> 
> Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

The first time Gilbert Blythe asks Anne Shirley out, properly that is, he waits until the end of the closing shift. It’s nearly daybreak on a Sunday, in the early hours of the morning, but he decides that it’s as good a time as any. He’s flirted with her before, certainly, but he thinks that maybe she might think well enough of him now (or at least moderately better) to say yes.

He puts down the last glass he was drying and the towel. He takes a step towards her, trying to catch her eye. Anne isn’t looking at him, but he can be patient. He clears his throat, and lets his hand drift to that comfortable position behind his neck. He adds a wide grin in the hopes of not looking sheepish, and asks _if she’d maybe like to have dinner with him sometime_.

Anne Shirley does not regard this particular instance with as much importance. It isn’t notable to her. Gilbert Blythe, a lothario if there ever was one, is once again disturbing her work with his flirtatious nonsense and that _mischievous_ smirk he seems to wear. Diana may think that she’s determined to misunderstand him, but if Anne has confidence in nothing else, at least she can trust her own instincts. The beloved “Dr. Blythe” is a cocky, self-assured _boy_ who will not waste anymore of her time.

So, when he asks, with faux sincerity, _if she’d like to have dinner with him sometime_ , Anne feels the familiar urge to slap him across the face well up inside of her. She clenches her fist, though, and pauses to take a deep breath. She may have lost her temper before, but Marilla Cuthbert did not raise a fool. Anne summons her most disaffected voice and calmly replies that _no thank you, she would rather not_. She turns, because she can feel the blush of her inexperience coloring her checks, and leaves the bar area quickly.

Gilbert’s shoulders slump behind her. His eyes watch her leave, and he’s tempted to follow. Despite the rejection, a small smile threatens to break—she didn’t hit him this time. _Progress_. He grabs his windbreaker and follows as he usually does: far enough behind to not start another argument, but close enough to keep a eye on her.

====

The first time Anne Shirley takes Gilbert Blythe’s offer seriously, Diana and Ruby (and regrettably, Josie) are waiting for her outside. She’s taken an alternate early shift, so she can salvage some of her Friday night. Josie had declared that they simply _had_ to go out, and Anne’s plan for a quiet night in was in tatters. They were waiting out by the bar, while she pretends not to be hiding in the back.

Gilbert’s presence, less unwelcome that it had been weeks ago, is not exactly a sight for sore eyes. He’d come in to the dimly lit room on his break, absentmindedly running his hand through his hair as he did. Anne would never tell a soul, but she’s convinced that he looked almost handsome for a split second. He looks at her and gestures out to the front with a flick of his head— _Josie?_ Anne nods, and it almost seems as if they were really friends… for a moment. Then it passes as quickly as it came.

Gilbert looks at her with that smirk and those cocky eyes, the predatory gaze she feels on the back of her neck from time to time, and asks her _if maybe she’d like to have dinner together sometime_. Anne is tired, so very tired, and she doesn’t have the energy for this right now. She presses her lips together, and tries her best to come across as nice when she says that _she’s busy_. Gilbert doesn’t let up, and chuckles a little when he adds that _he hadn’t even specified a time_. The sigh Anne can’t help but let escape fills the room. She grabs her bag, rolls her shoulders back, and asks him _what day were you thinking, then_? If Gilbert looks hopeful at that, it’s certainly only because he’s a sleazy waste of space, and not because he sincerely likes her, right? When he says _tomorrow_ , she’s quick to add _busy_ , and he says _Sunday_ , and she says _busy_ , and they keep going until she’s left the room (and he’s calling after her) … well, they’re not _not_ flirting.

Anne and tucks her smile back into the corners of her mouth when she greets the girls. Diana has a habit of noticing too much.

Gilbert Blythe marks that Friday as possibly the most important Friday he’s had in a long, long time. Progress does not even begin to cover it.

====

The first time that Gilbert Blythe asks her out via text message, Anne almost considers taking him up on the offer. He hadn’t outright asked for her number, which she is silently thankful for. Her slowly increasing opinion of him would crumble in the face of such bold behavior. Gilbert had given her his number at the beginning of the semester, with a quiet _if she ever needs anything_. When he’d helped her that night, before she even knew he was _Gilbert Blythe_. It was so uncharacteristically Gilbert behavior, she’d tucked it away and forgotten about it completely.

And then, months later, she found it in the pocket of her jacket—a small torn-off piece of a napkin from the bar, with the scribbled digits that so many girls at their school would kill for. Anne couldn’t even really convince herself of _why_ she’d added him to her contacts. Then she’d needed it, and she’d never been gladder. It’s a short message that she sends him, just a quick  < _Hey, I need someone to pick up my shift tonight –Anne. >_ He doesn’t ask why. He doesn’t even hesitate. < _Sure. –Gilbert_. >

Gilbert Blythe’s morning is made. His afternoon is made. His whole day is made. Even when he’s cleaning up on Anne Shirley’s closing shift on a Tuesday night, he can’t stop smiling. Sure, she could have gotten his number from another employee… but he can’t let go of the thought that she kept it. That she had it in her phone all these months, and even if she didn’t use it—she didn’t hate him _quite_ enough to get rid of it. He wants desperately to know what she saved his contact as, whether she still has the napkin, why she had to change shifts, where she is right now, whether or not she thought about him… too much to handle. He lets his mind wander when the place is slow, and he has to pull himself together for every customer. He wants to text her so badly. Gilbert is all jitters when he gets off the clock.

 It’s probably for the best that he waits, but he _can’t_. He tells himself that it’ll be a short message. A simple,  < _Just finished. Will you take mine on Thursday? Thanks. > _He wakes up to her agreement, < _Yes. Thank you, really. > _Since she’s being civil, there’s no reason to hold back, right? He starts texting her often—not as often as he thinks of her, because he has some restraint—but often nonetheless. And she _responds_. Distant at first, like she was in person, but gradually she warms up to his charm.

It’s about two weeks later when he throws caution to the wind. Sure, he’s got a bit of a cold, and he can’t seem to shake it, but it’ll clear up at the thought of a date. Gilbert goes for it, < _Anne, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to have dinner with me this weekend. >_ 

Anne stares at the message for five minutes before she can’t take it anymore. Part of her is astounded that he would even ask. Another is angry that she’s even considering it. A small bit in the back of her mind is urging her to take him seriously. It is all too confusing. Diana knocks on the door, and Anne closes her phone and throws it to the side. Apparently, Ruby is staying in their room tonight, because Josie still has mono. In all of the hubbub, Anne forgets about Gilbert Blythe and the offending message. Almost.

She wakes up to a hysterical Ruby. While it’s not a surprising sight, it still isn’t entirely welcome. Diana is trying to comfort her, and Anne can’t believe that she slept through it. Between the sobs, all she can make out is sentence fragments: _mono_... _was kissing_ …   _at the infirmary._ It takes nearly ten minutes for Diana’s soothing voice and hugs to pull the problem out of her: when Josie had gone to the infirmary that morning, she saw the great Gilbert Blythe there. Apparently, according to Ruby and Josie, he’d also come down with mono. And what had Ruby in straits was the idea that someone had given it to him! If Josie had gotten mono from making out with Billy Andrews at a party, where had Gilbert gotten it?

Anne keeps her composure, but she feels herself wilting. She can’t help herself, and her mind keeps jumping to the same place: maybe he’d gotten it from Josie. He did flirt with her all the time at the bar, and only someone as blind as Ruby could miss the predatory looks Josie had given Gilbert all semester. Anne certainly hadn’t. The thought of it eats at her, and she can’t think of anything else.

 


End file.
